18.

Above Trapezus and Pharnacia are situated Tibareni, Chaldæi, Sanni, (who were formerly called Macrones,1165) and the Lesser Armenia. The Appaïtæ also, formerly called Cercitæ, are not far from these places. Through the country belonging to these people stretches the Scydises,1166 a very rugged mountain, contiguous to the Moschic mountains1167 above Colchis. The heights of the Scydises are occupied by the Heptacometæ.1168 This country is likewise traversed by the Paryadres,1169 which extends from the neighbourhood of Sidene and Themiscyra to the Lesser Armenia, and forms the eastern side of the Pontus.

All the inhabitants of these mountains are quite savage, but the Heptacometæ are more so than all the others. Some of them live among trees, or in small towers, whence the ancients called them Mosynœci,1170 because the towers were called mosȳnes. Their food consists of the flesh of wild animals and the fruits of trees. They attack travellers, leaping down from the floors of their dwellings among the trees. The Heptacometæ cut off three of Pompey’s cohorts, as they were passing through the mountains, by placing on their road vessels filled with maddening honey, which is procured from the branches of trees. The men who had tasted the honey and lost their senses were attacked and easily despatched. Some of these barbarians were called Byzeres.